Pysanky

The Spoonflower design challenge this week is Pysanky - Ukrainian decorated Easter eggs. Using wax-resist to create the folk art based patterns, each egg is an intricate work of art

Decorated eggs can be found all over Europe.  I visited Budapest, Hungary and purchased some eggs as gifts. A Polish friend made me this one many years ago.

Hand made decorated egg from a Polish friend

For my Spoonflower pattern, I intended to paint a variety of eggs but completely ran out of time. So I decided I didn't have to be so literal and painted folk art inspired designs that might be found on the eggs. I used one of my books, Folk Art of Europe (by Helmuth Bossert) for inspiration. So while my designs may not be traditional Ukrainian designs, I tried to give them a folklore feel.

Art painted in gouache

I painted in gouache on Bristol board, then scanned to my computer to put together the repeat pattern. I added eggs in the background, as though the birds and flowers had popped off them. 

My final design

The voting ends tomorrow, February 19. You can see all the submissions (and vote) here.